William Shield

William Shield (5 March 1748 – 25 January 1829) was an English composer, violinist and violist. His music earned the respect of Haydn and Beethoven. Life and musical career Shield was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, County Durham, the son of William Shield and his wife, Mary, née Cash. He was first taught music by his father but, after both he and his mother died while Shield was still a child, he was apprenticed to a shipbuilder in South Shields, continuing however to study music with Charles Avison in Newcastle upon Tyne. He became a noted violinist in Newcastle’s subscription concerts before moving to Scarborough to lead a theatre orchestra. In 1772, he was appointed by Felice Giardini to play violin in the opera at Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House), and from 1773 he was principal violist there. In 1778 he provided the music for the comic opera The Flitch of Bacon to a libretto by Henry Bate. On 21 February 1776 he was in Durham, where he attended the meeting of the city’s masonic lodge at the Marquis of Granby tavern. The lodge Minutes indicate that he was by this date already a member of the St. John’s lodge in Newcastle. He later also became a member of the Sunderlan